You never realise just how many people bump into you on a daily basis until you have a new tattoo healing grumpily on your chest. Achaa~ I’m also less than a week away from moving and my room still looks like Kuuko’s in episode 4…. Somehow, though, I still find time to blog about my animu! (eventually) So, without further ado..

Initiating Flashback Episode: Aki is getting bullied by the resident asshole of the village, at this point he’s no longer a Seki and the bully is in control of his Doll, though he’s not very good at it. Aki mocks him to the point he goes to strike when Kukuri appears to protect Aki. Kyohei saves -his boyfriend- Aki, and the two meet their future Sensei (Senou Chihaya) who had stopped to watch. From the start her attention seems more focused on Aki, instead of Kyohei.

Chihaya gets bothered by the guy who was trying to hate on Aki to be his girlfriend, but she fights his forceful advances off. She’s reprimanded because the guy is apparently Kuga and therefor should be treated with respect, so she should hold her tongue (and her fists) in future. Kyohei tries to stand up for her, but doesn’t achieve anything, leading him to go find her with Kukuri. He offers to protect her, in his bumbling, awkward way, but she assures him she can look after herself.

While walking home Chihaya comes across Aki who appears to have been waiting for her. She remembers being warned about him, and so seeks to understand him better. It seems Chihaya’s turn to be hazed, as rumors of her slumming it with student’s Father’s are scrawled on the blackboard. She runs out, humiliated, when she finds Aki. They have an awkward little exchange where she seems to be reaching out to him again, and after that Kyohei approaches Aki and he warns him of the asshole’s interest in Chihaya.

The asshole tries it on again with her but Aki dives in to save the day. Later, when they’re alone, Chihaya kisses Aki. One thing leads to another and they sleep together.

“This is revenge…”

The next day Aki is even seen to be laughing, playing with his dog despite the melancholy way his night with Chihaya ended. Unfortunately someone was playing candid camera with the two of them last night and their little session gets revealed. Naturally, it isn’t received well and she’s told to leave.

The asshole returns, Doll in hand and Aki finds the dog murdered outside Chihaya’s place along with a note leading him to Mr. Asshole and Chihaya. When he arrives he’s less than happy since it’s implied Chihaya was raped. The asshole has had a vendetta against Aki for a while, and he lashes out with his Doll’s scythe but Chihaya leaps between them, sacrificing herself for Aki. Things quickly spiral out of control and he goes in for the kill. Aki regains control of his old Doll at just the wrong moment, he also takes revenge for Chihaya out on everyone who stumbled upon the scene. Kyohei arrives just in time to get the wrong impression, too.

The scene that follows shows us the aftermath; Kyohei’s anguish towards Aki, his trial, how the village took it, Aki’s incarceration and so forth. It brings us to wear we finished last episode, with Kyohei and Hibino taking shelter from the rain. It was after all that Kyohei quit being a Seki and some time later actually learned Aki hadn’t killed Chihaya, though he still seems unable to put his rage aside.

COUGAR TOWN

That’s a “come hither” look if ever I saw it

Who is this sweet-faced boy?!

The last image in Aki’s mind before he thinks he’s about to die is Kyohei. If that’s not yaoi fodder I don’t know what is

END THOUGHTS

This whole episode felt like a lament to Aki, like everyone was remembering a dead person, and I don’t mean Chihaya, she was fairly irrelevant. It was like they were looking back fondly at the old Aki; the innocent one, and seeing just how detached Kyohei is to this new one was quite chilling. He wishes they could go back to how things were but is too jaded by it all to even know how to deal with Aki’s presence in front of him. At least not without letting his previous anger and resentment get the better of him.

I didn’t think the entire massacre would have been caused by a love triangle (or square, if you count Kyohei). It was apparent that Aki was always a bit “off” and it wasn’t just the events of that day that made him that way. It’s hard for me to believe he had any real deep feelings for Chihaya, though it is impossible to deny they shared something unique together (his first time, I’m assuming). The two seem thrown together. They both made mistakes and bad choices, so it was apparent things were unavoidably going to end in ruin, which is what makes it so perfectly tragic. Chihaya was such a self-destructive person, and Aki so innocent and aimless, they were a match made in hell from the start. I’ve talked a little before about the complex emotions and interesting “couples” in this series, and Chihaya and Aki just highlight that fact even more.

Kyohei, however, enters the love triangle a little later, despite him obviously having a crush on her from the beginning. He seems to take the asshole’s place once Aki kills him, because it’s only then (I’m assuming) he finds out about Aki and Chihaya’s relations, and he then becomes aware of his own ignorance. It’s a hard blow, and that’s probably what lends him to being so sour about the whole affair. The teacher he thought he was so close to and his best friend were fucking behind his back. That would sting. A lot. Poor Kyohei <3 No wonder he’s so bitter. But after seeing that he actually knows Aki wasn’t really at fault, I can see them maybe getting back on good terms. Well, if Aki stops deliberately pissing him off, they might.

Bottom line; this was a great episode. Characterization was well captured – I really liked how Chihaya wasn’t your carbon copy “perfect sensei who dies so totally unjustly”. She was deeply, deeply flawed, yet still likeable. Pacing was good for the most part though sometimes the constant back and forth got tiring. Only thing that really stood out negativly was the animation quality. Lots of derp, Aki faces. Boo.

PREVIEW

There was no preview this week in favor of more storytime, but the gang are pretty much done in the village and are heading back to the city~

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Metanorn's resident perverted princess and porn critic; she covers the overlooked, the underrated and the down right stupid. No anime is safe from her critical eye, but throw something Jun Fukuyama related in her direction and she'll turn into a useless puddle of fangirl goo.

Yeah! We need our Aki fill and it is now officially criminal if they don’t include him, because he is by far the best character (excusing maybe Utao) in this series. Unbiasedly as well, he’s the most complex, who the plot really revolves around at the moment, and has the most impact on the widest array of characters.

This is a new side to Aki. His cold attitude at that time was pretty much Sasuke Uchiha or Gekkou from Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi. The walking the dog part was a nice touch. At least this showed that Kyohei and Aki were actually friends. But it was more like Naruto and Sasuke kind.

Cougar relationship, huh? I didn’t know Chihaya was into younger guys. I wonder if the first guy she slept with was younger than her, too. That asshole chasing her obviously couldn’t take a hint. She doesn’t want you!!! Take a hike!!!

That village needs to burn to ground. Those villagers were pure bastards from mistreating Chihaya. It seems they always do that to outsiders. It made me remember a part from Shiki before Megumi died. She said the villagers were the strange ones for mistreating those who are different from them.

There were a lot of good little subtle things in this episode, it helped things play out naturally. Can’t believe Kyohei saving Aki at the beginnning, it was so nice not to see them at each others throats for a change.

I honestly don’t know how many cliche’s Chihaya broke with the “kind sensei who dies tragically and who the heroes angst for throughout the series”. She was very different, indeed.

Nice to see the flashback between those two. Though I still want to know what goes into being a Seki. Is there some ritual or whatever that they do? Cause it basically seems like the Force and that Aki was able to steal it from asshole character.